#JavaScript Essentials

[pauljonessoftware]

Real Talk: Wanna Learn Web Development?

Web development is one of the most in-demand skills in the tech industry, whether you’re an aspiring IT contractor, a software developer looking to expand your expertise, or a recruiter wanting to better understand what makes a great web developer. But where do you start? What’s the minimum you need to know? And what tech stacks should you focus on? Let’s break it down. The Minimum Tech You Need…

[unfogged]

me versus my need to update the meme blog nav page versus javascript existing in the code versus tumblr not allowing javascript versus every other nav page out there that i like including javascript.

[vanilla-voyeur]

There are so, so, so many reasons why this incredibly fake story is incredibly fake. But I just keep reading the API technobabble and I can't stop laughing.

Mf out here bragging about how not only is their code unreadable and unmaintainable, but also their documentation is unreadable and undiscoverable. The problem that this creative writer has is that they need to be indispensable in this story, but unfortunately an indispensable programmer is uniquely gifted at making themself superfluous as quickly and efficiently as possible in as many contexts as possible.

The "nobody is familiar with Python" part is probably my favorite. Python is one of the easiest programming languages to learn. It's so easy that it's the language that engineers (real engineers like chemical engineers, biomedical engineers, material engineers, not software engineers developers) use to help them automate things in their work. Anyone who is familiar with any other programming language can pick up Python in under an hour. You who are familiar with zero programming languages could probably pick up a decent amount of Python in a month. Try it! It is probably easier than you think.

More reasons why this fake story is fake:

This is posted on r/antiwork. It's one of the subreddits infamous for fake stories of bad bosses

It's a multipart series. One of the tropes of fake Reddit stories is the escalating updates. Creative writers hear an encore and they keep going back for more

It's a bit ambiguous how long this person has been in industry, but given the context of missing multiple children's school functions, I think 10+ years of experience is a cautious estimate. That is long enough in software for you to be a team lead, if not a people manager yourself. This person should be training junior devs. They explicitly say that they aren't

Software is incredibly collaborative. There's no way a manager would turn down an offer to train new devs on the existing tooling

Moreover there's no way the code got push to production without several eyes on it. Most companies do either code reviews or pair programming or both. It makes no sense that zero other people understand what's going on with this code. Unless it's really buggy

The fact that someone tried to use it and it corrupted a CSV file (??) shows that it's actually really buggy. If the software was so good, anyone would be able to run it

That goes double for the documentation being so bad that nobody knows how to read it. The entire purpose of documentation is to explain how code works. You failed at your one job.

If the only documentation is something that's hard to find, that looks bad on OOP for two reasons: 1) Documentation is normally put inline next to the code precisely for the reason that it would be easy to find. Don't want to see what a nightmare their code with no inline docs looks like. 2) Their programming practices are so bad that their other documentation is hard to find. The program should have a file called README that either has all the documentation or tells you where to find all the documentation.

This violates NDA so bad

"Out of compliance" for what? Which regulation? Why do they have a deadline to regain compliance? They should already be suffering whatever fines or consequences or whatever for already being out of compliance. It would make more sense if they were at risk of being out of compliance if they didn't implement XYZ by January

There's a lot of weird wording here that indicates a lack of familiarity with software: "complex API", "documentation library", "single threaded". That's not how we use those terms

If you're a software developer for a company the size of Disney (ABC's parent) then what OOP asked for is your starting salary straight out of undergrad. Def not a raise for a senior engineer who's been in industry 10+ years. Def not more than their manager is making.

At a company that size, your direct manager has no ability to decide what the terms of your hiring agreement would be. Def not over text. It would need to go through HR and probably legal as well

"Legal checked the contract and there's a clause stating" lmao get outta here!

[orcelito]

So i did finish the lab. Pretty damn late, but I finished it.

This should be testament enough to my general state of mind by this point. Yes, I did turn it in like this.

[sanchoyo]

in the process of adding a lil journal/blog section to my website (I’ve been working on it on and off for abt as long as the dress up game) bc I do like the idea of long form writing that’s just personal lil updates beyond sticking them on here (bc all my blogs on here are divided by like…main blog for Personal stuff. Art blog for art. Comic blog. Fashion blog. And I want a place for all of that kinda jumbled together and also super rambly without needing a readmore. And to be able to Style it more. Cutely. Like these will be the extremely long directors cuts of My Ramblings)

I also kind of want to make a friends/sites I like section !! But none of my rly good friends on are on neocities I don’t think (as far as I know?? If u guys are hmu) and idk if im brave enough to list strangers sites I like bc I am. Shy… 🧍🏻but yeah that’s what I’ve been busy with!! Also comic stuff and holiday stuff coming up and being hectic means I prob won’t be on a ton so if im MIA that’s why ✌️

[gagande]

PureCode AI review | React Essentials

In the realm of modern web development, React reigns supreme. It is a JavaScript library cherished for its ability to create large web applications that update and render efficiently in response to data changes. The magic behind React’s efficiency lies in its core concepts: components, JSX syntax, and the Virtual DOM.

[dukeofriven]

It's important to spread the word that Javascript is unforgivable.

I see people talking about the Brave browser in the whole Firefox vs chrome debate, and while people rightly point out that it's just chromium and that they do shady cryptocurrency shit, I never see anyone point out that Brave's founder and CEO is Brandan Eich.

He founded Brave after massive protests against him becoming CEO of Mozilla, resigning after 11 days. And the reason for those protests? He donated a lot of money to the Prop 8 campaign to ban gay marriage.

So just remember: it's not just another chromium fork, it's not just a browser with cryptocurrency bullshit, it's also the browser founded by a homophobe because he got kicked out of his former organization for being a homophobe.

Also, he invented Javascript. I'm willing to believe that maybe he has grown on the gay marriage issue, and made amends for his former mistakes. But Javascript cannot be forgiven.

[dropoutdeveloper]

Introduction to JavaScript for Beginners: Unlock the Power of Web Development 2023

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on JavaScript for beginners. In this article, we will delve deep into the world of JavaScript, one of the most versatile and widely-used programming languages on the web. Whether you’re an aspiring web developer or simply curious about the fascinating realm of coding, we’ve got you covered. Let’s embark on this exciting journey and unlock the potential of…

[codingquill]

Essentials You Need to Become a Web Developer

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Mastery

Text Editor/Integrated Development Environment (IDE): Popular choices include Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text.

Version Control/Git: Platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket allow you to track changes, collaborate with others, and contribute to open-source projects.

Responsive Web Design Skills: Learn CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Flexbox and master media queries

Understanding of Web Browsers: Familiarize yourself with browser developer tools for debugging and testing your code.

Front-End Frameworks: for example : React, Angular, or Vue.js are powerful tools for building dynamic and interactive web applications.

Back-End Development Skills: Understanding server-side programming languages (e.g., Node.js, Python, Ruby , php) and databases (e.g., MySQL, MongoDB)

Web Hosting and Deployment Knowledge: Platforms like Heroku, Vercel , Netlify, or AWS can help simplify this process.

Basic DevOps and CI/CD Understanding

Soft Skills and Problem-Solving: Effective communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills

Confidence in Yourself: Confidence is a powerful asset. Believe in your abilities, and don't be afraid to take on challenging projects. The more you trust yourself, the more you'll be able to tackle complex coding tasks and overcome obstacles with determination.

[lapinlunaire-games]

Links...buttons...action!

Pellicule is a minimalist UI template for use with Twine's Sugarcube format, inspired by professional screenplay formatting and analog photography.

Use built-in widgets to format passage text like a script, classic snail mail letters, or take advantage of a crisp, clean layout to comfortably display dense prose. Showcase your writing with bold, sophisticated display themes or create your own with custom colors.

Features:

Crisp minimalist design

Light/dark display themes

Custom plug-and-play widgets to format screenplay and letter essentials

Pre-styled template options for choice links and buttons

Built-in keybinds to toggle menu & close dialogs

Responsive design for desktop, tablets, and mobile devices

Annotated passages, stylesheet, and JavaScript for plug-and-play convenience

This template is free to use! Comes with detailed instructions on how to use the built-in widgets and commented code, ready for your story!

[nexadarling]

I'm doing it, I did it! I officially have a place to never shut the fuck up about fic the way it deserves let's gooooooooooo!!!!!

This blog is under construction!

I am working really hard to bring you all my favorite fics, including plenty that I haven't had the time/space to add onto my previous rec lists over on my personal blog. That being said, I am a bit of a perfectionist, and there's no way to batch move everything, which means the process is a bit tedious.

At the moment, I have ensured that there's a working theme and functional tagging system, although I'm not entirely pleased/finished with the latter. I want to focus on getting more fics up now that there's a structure though, so expect changes to the tagging and navigation system in the next month or so.

While I'm working on posting all the fics I currently have backlogged, my AO3 Bookmark Collection is up to date, and will continue to be the place where I catalogue every fic I plan to share. I always pull from my bookmarks, so everything I post will live there first.

I also have submissions open, so if you have a fic you want to share (whether you have written it, or simply enjoy it as a reader), please feel free to send it in! Asks are open as well, so if you need help finding a specific fic, want to request a general vibe/topic/ect., I'd be more than happy to help! If you submit a fic and I don't post it, it's likely it's already pending in my bookmarks, and I will add it myself soon. I'll always post author submissions though, because I want y'all to be proud of your work!!

Suggestions for how to improve the structure of the blog and tags are also welcome, and you are can message those to me separately.

Lastly, I want this to be a place to celebrate all Trigun fics and authors! That means that, while the fics I read and post have a large lean towards Vashwood (due to the insane brainrot they have over me), that is by no means the only thing allowed. Please don't hesitate to submit or ask for fics with other topics, including ones that don't involve Vash or Wolfwood at all. I just wanted it to be clear that the primary focus would be Vashwood, based on what I read. All I ask is that you include the appropriate cw/tw to your submissions.

[nishtha135]

Which coding languages should I learn to boost my IT career opportunities?

A career in IT needs a mix of versatile programming languages. Here are some of the most essential ones:

Python – Easy to learn and widely used for data science, machine learning, web development, and automation.

JavaScript – Key for web development, allowing interactive websites and backend work with frameworks like Node.js.

Java – Known for stability, popular for Android apps, enterprise software, and backend development.

C++ – Great for systems programming, game development, and areas needing high performance.

SQL – Essential for managing and querying databases, crucial for data-driven roles.

C# – Common in enterprise environments and used in game development, especially with Unity.

[obey-me-rewrite]

Hi! just wanted to ask on how you personally use Twine I've been a fan of OM, and wondered how u made the remake in that system lmao. I was wondering if you had any tips / tutorials u used, I've spent some time testing and have got the hang of variables and linking but i was really confused on how you designed it / removed the borders around the side bar and everything, along with how you made the intimacy system, Especially the notify / achievement bar system! No tutorials were helping me lol

Sure! I'll do my best to explain below; feel free to ask me to expand on anything if it's confusing.

Changing sidebar:

The way you do this is basically through CSS ("Story Stylesheet"). When your game is open in the browser, you can inspect elements to figure out what they're called, then change their styles. For example, I removed the border of the menu buttons by putting the following in the stylesheet:

(for the overall borders)

menu ul {

border: none;

}

(for the borders between each link)

menu li a {

border: none;

}

w3schools.com is a great website if you'd like to learn CSS - it's what will help you completely restyle your story. There are also plenty of Twine design templates for something easier to use without having to learn code.

Intimacy system:

This one is a little more complicated. I'm actually completely rehauling the intimacy system for version 1.1. Right now, it uses a lot of if statements to check the amount of intimacy the player has collected with a character - and this intimacy is in a variable initialized in the special StoryInit passage. However, that's bandaid code which is messy and easily runs into bugs, as has happened ever since release lol. To fix it, I've essentially created a proper levelling system using custom macros and JavaScript. That requires a good grasp on behind-the-scenes programming, though. If your game isn't a huge project, keeping intimacy in variables should work just fine. Just make sure to keep a spreadsheet or notes somewhere that list how much intimacy is possible to gain and in which passages. It will make your life easier in the long run.

Notifications:

This one I actually got from one of Chapel's custom macros! They're super easy to use and do a lot of cool things. I highly recommend checking these out because they can make your life easier: link

Achievements:

I'm going to assume you're talking about achievements that persist over different saves - for this, you'll need to utilize Twine's special StoryInit passage again. In case you are not sure of what that is, it's essentially all the variables that will be initialized when the game is first loaded into the browser. Your achievements and important story-spanning variables (like personality traits, intimacy counters, etc) will go here. To create an achievement, you'd put something like this in your StoryInit:

<<set $achievement1 to recall('achievement1')>>

If the player hasn't obtained the achievement, $achievement1 will automatically be set to false. To have them actually get the achievement, put

<<run memorize($achievement1, true)>>

<<set $achievement1 to true>>

in the passage where the achievement is gained. Also, be sure to have your players know that keeping saves and achievements like these relies on browser cache - if that's cleared, their progress will be lost.

Hope that helps! I wasn't sure how familiar you are with Twine beyond variables and linking as it's a pretty big engine with many things, so I just covered things without going into deeper mechanics like Twine's special passages, scripts/stylesheets, macros, etc. I'm happy to explain those too if you're having trouble. Also, everything I explained is specifically in the Sugarcube language - it won't work in Harlowe, Snowman, etc.

Helpful links:

Twine cookbook

Chapel's custom macros

Cycy's custom macros

Albie's Twine Tutorial with tons more resources

[warningsine]

All right, since I bombarded a poor mutual yesterday...

Privacy is not security and security is not privacy. These terms are not interchangeable, but they are intrinsically linked.

While we're at this, anonymity =/= security either. For example, Tor provides the former, but not necessarily the latter, hence using Https is always essential.

It is impossible to have privacy without security, but you can have security without privacy.

A case in point is administrators being able to view any data they want due to their full-access rights to a system. That being said, there are ethics and policies that usually prevent such behavior.

Some general tips:

Operating System: Switch to Linux. Ubuntu and Linux Mint are widely used for a reason. Fedora too. And don't worry! You can keep your current operating system, apps and data. If you're on a Mac computer, you can easily partition your hard drive or SSD by using Disk Utility. If you're on Windows, you can follow this guide.

You want to go a step further? Go with Whonix or Tails. They're Linux distributions as well, but they're both aiming for security, not beauty so the interface might not be ideal for everyone. Many political activists and journalists use them.

You want anonymity? Then you need to familiarize yourself with Tor. Also, Tor and HTTPS and Tor’s weaknesses. When you're using it, don't log in to sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. and make sure to stay away from Java and Javascript, because those things make you traceable.

Alternatives for dealing with censorship? i2p and Freenet.

Is ^ too much? Welp. All right. Let's see. The first step is to degoogle.

Switch to a user-friendly browser like Firefox (or better yet LibreWolf), Brave or Vivaldi. There are plenty of hardened browsers, but they can be overwhelming for a beginner.

Get an ad blocker like Ublock Origin.

Search Engine? StartPage or Duckduckgo. SearXNG too. Like I said degoogle.

Get a PGP encrypted e-mail. Check Protonmail out.

There's also Tutamail that doesn't cover PGP, but uses hybrid encryption that avoids some of the cons of PGP.

Skiff mail is also a decent option.

Use an e-mail aliasing service such as SimpleLogin or AnonAddy.

Check OpenPGP out. Claws Mail is a good e-mail client for Windows and Linux, Thunderbird for Mac OS.

Gpg4win is free and easy to use for anyone that wants to encrypt/decrypt e-mails.

Instead of Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Telegram etc. use Signal for your encrypted insant messaging, voice and video calls.

Get a metadata cleaner.

Get a firewall like Opensnitch, Portmaster or Netguard which can block Internet for trackers.

Alternatively, go with a private DNS that blocks these trackers. NextDNS is a good paid service. Rethink a good free option.

Replace as many of your applications as you can with FOSS (free and open source) ones. Alternativeto can help you.

Always have automatic updates on. They are annoying af, I know, but they are necessary.

Keep your distance from outdated software.

Always have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled.

Do not use your administrator account for casual stuff. If you're on Linux, you probably know you can be sudo, but not root.

On Linux distributions use AppArmor, but stay away from random antivirus scanners. Other distributions default to SELinux, which is less suited to a beginner.

Never repeat your passwords. If you can't remember them all, use a password manager like KeePass.

Encrypt your drive.

Honestly, VPNs have their uses and ProtonVPN, Mullvad and Windscribe are decent, but eh. If you don't trust your ISP, why would you trust the VPN provider that claims they don't log you when you can't verify such a thing?

[hauntinginprogress]

neocities heracles trials: from a chaotic newbie

okay so i want to actually start posting here and i finally got it through my thick skull that this is LITERALLY A BLOG. i'm supposed to blog. so here's a blog post.

anyways, for context, i've been working on my neocities for a while now, recently started over to make things more original and more me. another thing to note is that i'm using VScode.

the issue here is that i have zero well not exactly zero but i lack any professional/academic background experience with making websites. the html isn't the issue (thankfully) but holy shit dude...css+javascript implementation . basic styling with css is no biggie, right? absolutely, however...may i introduce: smooth transitions + the absolutely tragic fact that the <marquee> tag is deprecated an accessibility issue.

so, my first goal day one was to recreate a marquee animation through css. so i tried to simply implement this incredibly useful bit of code into my site (in which if you're interested i totally think my failure to get it working was user error so please check it out it works great if you're not me) but, lo and behold, despite me getting it to work in my V1 project, i could not, for the life of me, get it to work. so i, not too familiar with css animation and completely lost when it comes to javascript, started grasping at straws. i ended up finding this tutorial and, with some improvisation since the tutorial is for webflow and i'm manually writing everything, managed to make my own css recreation of a marquee effect essentially from scratch, and even learned about the animation-play-state css attribute so i could pause the effect when the marquee is hovered over! victory, basically.

then, i looked around the many cool and absolutely awesome sites on neocities to get inspiration, and then i was like "hey what if i made a custom button background image" and with some trial and error, made myself a pretty decent base (for now) with aseprite, and learned more about the program in the meantime which is always a plus.

then i decided that i wanted to do more with the buttons. i wanted to make it animate on hover. not too hard right? you'll...you'll see why i struggled...in a moment...

anyways, i settled on a simple shrink animation. which THIS i could do with ease, messed around a bit, got the keyframes, assigned that to the button:hover and all of that and all was good!...until i realized that once i stopped hovering over it, it snapped back to its original scale instead of transitioning smoothly again. THIS is where the "fun" began.

see, although i can wrap my head around things easily when it comes to css, i have to constantly look up what the proper syntax for everything is because otherwise i'll mess everything up. and through my research i had conducted (aka surfing through multiple blogs and reddit posts alongside other things on random forum websites) i had discovered the very neat transition attribute.

but we'll have to return to this because i have adhd, and i ended up getting distracted during this process. see, originally i had decided that the button would change it's visual to appear like it was pressed when the user's mouse hovered over it. then i was like "i don't think this makes sense" so i changed it so that the button wouldn't change its background image unless the user actually clicked on it. so i did that. then i had to make sure that the button wouldn't magically scale up again so i had to transform the styling and blah blah blah those details aren't really that important ANYWAYS the actual important bit about this is that if you use the transition attribute and there's a change in background images that change will also be transitioned unless you set the transition to only apply to a specific change. and i didn't know that originally. so every time i tried to fix things up with a transition so the button wouldn't snap back to it's original size out of nowhere the background would slooowly change as well and i actually got so frustrated with this that i wanted to burn something down because that's a totally normal reaction i guess. anyways, then i started frantically searching for answers on the topic and EVERY. SINGLE. THING. THAT I FOUND. INCLUDED JAVASCRIPT.

i do not know javascript. i have not learned anything about it unlike css and html. it SCARES me and it is FRUSTRATING. but i thought i'd try it anyways. news flash that shit didn't work at all and i almost thought about scrapping the animation entirely especially when it randomly stopped working when i made certain changes, but i ended up eventually figuring out what i mentioned earlier (CSS transitions and the fact that you can assign them to only affect a specific change instead of everything) so with some dabbling here and there i eventually managed to finally figure out how to make everything smooth through pure css and although it still snaps if the element hasn't finished animating i'm happy with it.

moving on to another thing, i wanted to then make a sound effect play when you click the button. yes, we are still talking about buttons. THIS i could not do with css, like, at all. javascript admittedly is for interactivity and i had already been bending the rules quite a bit with the animations since those teechnically should've been done with javascript as well but this? this was impossible without javascript. so i found a free mp3, and searched up a nice little tutorial on the very basics of javascript.

little did I know that apparently, this would be my own personal little hell.

see, no matter how many times i tried a different script, the sound just would not work like at all. i'd do everything in what i assumed to be the correct way, and no matter what, it would not play. knowing that i'd just have to revisit this, i decided it was best to just sort of put it on the back burner.

and this is where i wish i could say this is the end of my absolutely gobstopping rant. however, i cannot.

see, one thing that i really like that i've seen in a lot of other people's sites is draggable windows. i think they're sick. but this ALSO requires javascript, but i didn't think this could POSSIBLY be that bad since so many people did it.

...right?.......right? guys. right?

MOTHERFUCKER I WAS SO WRONG.

see, it turns out that a lot of people do this sort of thing with jQuery, specifically for user interfaces. but vscode doesn't have a "user friendly" way to get jquery to work with it. and because i don't want to mess with program files, i decided that logically speaking jquery just makes writing things in js scripts less complicated and doesn't introduce things that are impossible in vanilla javascript so i decided i could suffer a little bit and try and do things without jquery.

this led me to looking at many sites with draggable windows to look at their own scripts, in which every single time i tried replicating things i FAILED.

i eventually stumbled upon a nice code that worked. but the issue with it - in which unfortunately i can't find it, else i'd link it - is that it works with not only element classes but also a specific ID. see, this would be fine if i only wanted ONE draggable element. but i want multiple. and i thought that maybe if i just duplicated the script and dedicated it to a different ID and changed function names it would work but nooo life cannot be this easy apparently. so after setting up my webmaster status window, getting that to work, i tried doing the aforementioned method for what will eventually be a guestbook of sorts. it failed.

so i decided, "hey i'll revisit this later!!" and i went on to finding a way to implement a status widget into my site. this honestly was really easy as i ended up stumbling upon status.cafe . so i registered, eventually got my account activated, and i got it working in my live port of vscode just fine!! all is good in the world.

well that's what i thought until i found out that since i had created my neocities account in march of 2024, and i'm unemployed since i'm still in high school hence i have a free account, that i could not. use the widget. in neocities. so i tried finding a work around, found this handy guide (which is genuinely useful by the way) and set up things through a RSS feed instead which is essentially just a work around that complies with the security restrictions of neocities that i'm bound by. anyways, this works great but i literally just can't customize it to how i want so this is another fail. then i find imood.com which, although is NICE, doesn't suit what i want on its own. so i'm at a loss here too.

so, again, another thing to put to the side i suppose.

so i started working on getting my guestbook, browsed through people's homepages again, and found chattable . and you probably think i have another paragraph complaining about this but honestly i can't write about something when i can't figure out how to even create a chat to implement onto my site in the first place so...y'know.

plus, i honestly have no clue if it'll work on my site either due to security restrictions so this is fun!!

anyways, after dealing with all of this, i finally decided it was about time i ported what i had so far over onto my neocities account. which isn't actually that hard i just had to wipe all of my files, overwrite the content in my index.html file there and paste in what i have now, and then upload my new files. but for some god awful reason after i went through all of this chrome just. kept depending on my old stylesheet??? so i had to clear some of my browsing data and eventually everything was loading properly for me.

and THIS is finally the end of my ridiculous documentation concering my neocities adventure so far.

i have no doubts i'll end up ranting here AGAIN about all of this but for now this is all i have on my plate...besides finally caving and learning javascript for real and continuing to learn more about html and css. hopefully one day i'll stop having such frequent issues but now is not the time and i doubt that'll be anytime soon either.

moral of the story, if you want to start something new and pick up a new hobby, please for the love of all that is of substance in this world don't go in completely blind like i've done if you're going to be making a project of some sorts. it will only lead to many misfortunes.

anyways you can see what i currently have done in my neocities here, make suggestions or give advice in the notes and whatnot i don't know.

[mimicschest]

I currently have my latest blogpost for my website displayed on my front page. If you click on the title, it will take you to the post. I essentially grab the Title, which is a class of h1, and the article, using javascript, and then replace it. However, right now, this is done by manually replacing the href of the javascript. This works; I just create a post, copy the link, and paste it into the script in my home page.

Problem; I am already maintaining my rss feed manually. Why should I do *this* manually? I kind of want to not do either manually.

Solution: Javascript can be used to parse a xml doc. This includes rss feeds. I can simply make a script that, when you load up the webpage, it will request the most recent version of the .xml file associated with my file, then find the one with the most recent pubDate, it will then grab the link from that, and use my existing script to display it on my homepage.

As for updating my rss feed? I may need to create a php script for that. I just need two forms, and a submit button. One will take a link, and the other would be the password. So, I create a new blogpost, upload it, and then copy the link into the form. The password field will be used to create a cryptographic hash, and if it matches the provided one, then it will create a timestamp, and add the item, complete with links, to the html file. I could add in a hidden description to the blogpost, and the script can rip the description from there. Its pretty simple, and I wouldn't trust this authentication process... except that it is extremely limited in scope. All it does is accept a link already part of my blog, and updates an xml document - one I regularly back-up.

I also want to make a script that would get the previous and next posts on the blog, based on the info already in the xml document, rather than manually updating the existing blogposts. It doesn't take long, but it would be one less thing I have to worry about. I just have to match the current link to one in the xml file, get the timestamp, and find the item with the previous and next timestamp, then inject the links into the previous/next buttons. I can use a span element that will be updated to show up once a new document is found by the script.

If I was making one that actually allowed you to write a blogpost - complete with html - then I would want better security - like some form of 2 factor authentication. My authentication script would work. I would also want it limited to posting based on the time (like 1 post per x minutes). I may actually do that later. It would be nice to just go to my site, use my passkey+password authenticator, and then just post to my blog. It would have a form for the title, short description, and the main post. Then, it takes that info, and essentially pastes it into a provided template.

I could also make a similar system for the site-updates and little blurb on the top. Currently, I just edit the html for that. But I could also make an xml document, and just have the posts contained in items like an rss feed, then have the javascript read from there. Use a php script to add new entries to it. They could even be in the same file, just have to use two different elements.

Finally, on the main page, you can click on the title of the blog post to link there. This is done via script, so there is no mouseover indication that you can do this. I want to make the title element change a bit when you mouseover it - perhaps make it a little paler on mouseover?